This book describes the social and economic history of Novgorod in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The sources of the research include not only chronicles, but also official documents of Novgorod (pistsovye knigi). The author based his research on the Marxist doctrine of the feudal rent, as well as on his own comparative method of analysis of economics of various districts of the Novgorod Land.

The author studied the social and economic aspects of the history of Novgorod, and the reasons of the crash of its Veche state system. The Church is described in the context of the social and economic development of Novgorod. From one hand, he speaks about construction of churches; from the other hand, about the economic status of the Church in the system of feudal relations. Particularly, he compares Boyar and monastic property and income, including the ‘bread tax’ or ‘izdolie’.

The author shown the regularities and reasons of the fall of the Novgorod Republic; on his point of view, it as connected with the historical feudal type of economic development, and the impossibility for Boyar and monastic manors to transfer to the progressive type of economics.